And in this set of 20 albums, loads more folk and country. Plus two albums by The Pogues within 3 days. Of the two Pogues albums, I preferred If I Should Fall From Grace With God over Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
I don't have much in the way of Pogues albums in my library, both these were added to my Qobuz favourites.
The big disappointment was Brian Wilson's Smile, the resurrection of the great lost Beach Boys' follow-up to Pet Sounds.
Aside from that, there were a few albums that scored 4/5.
| 280
Oct 15 2024 |
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme | Simon & Garfunkel | 3 |
3.63 |
| This kind of music really isn't my thing. Having said that, I was surprised by how many of the songs on this album I knew. I'm not sure why anyone would regard this album as a 'masterpiece' (c.f. the Wikipedia entry). It's pleasant enough, but some of the songs are just a bit too twee. And then there was the rumpus about song authorship. | ||||
| 279
Oct 14 2024 |
Scott 4 | Scott Walker | 4 |
2.82 |
| Scott Walker has a lovely voice. His career trajectory was pretty weird, from the Walker Brothers through a series of increasingly respected solo albums to some pretty experimental work. I love Bish-Bosch and Soused, his collaboration with Sunn O))). This album has pretty lush orchestration, and is said to have been influential on other artists. Personally, I'm in a bit of a quandary as to how I should rate this. At times it's a bit too smooth for my taste, but Walker's voice just comes through it all. | ||||
| 278
Oct 13 2024 |
Smile | Brian Wilson | 3 |
3.02 |
| Well there is of course the backstory to this, a re recording of one of the famous lost albums of the 60s. Originally intended to the the follow-up to Pet Sounds, everything went awry as Brian Wilson hit the rocks with mental health issues that took him out of action for decades. This album definitely sounds like Brian Wilson's Beach Boys of yesteryear - possibly due to similar collaborators, and garnered quite a bit of press adulation. I'm not really persuaded it's *that* good. After three listens, it was really coming across as a bit of a pastiche of Pet Sounds era Beach Boys. | ||||
| 277
Oct 12 2024 |
Be | Common | 3 |
3.36 |
| Another rap album, a genre I don't really care for. But I listened to it three times and I kind of like some aspects of it. Rap delivery always seems quite samey to me, and I guess the critical thing here is whether one can go with the lyrics and gain from them. To some extent, that's going to be (at least in part) dependent on the cultural references. One thing I'm really not able to form an opinion about is the extent to which this album was influential on other artists. | ||||
| 276
Oct 11 2024 |
Paris 1919 | John Cale | 4 |
2.94 |
| This is a great, if somewhat conventional record, coming after the more Cale's more experimental work before and after Cale's stint in The Velvet Underground, and while he was shaping the future of rock music as a producer. Not my favourite Cale album, but full of fine songs. | ||||
| 275
Oct 10 2024 |
Red Dirt Girl | Emmylou Harris | 2 |
2.86 |
| Ugh, I don't like country music. Interesting that this was her 19th album, and the first to have a majority of the songs self-composed. | ||||
| 274
Oct 09 2024 |
First Band On The Moon | The Cardigans | 1 |
3.27 |
| This is the kind of record that if you don't care for the lead vocalist, you're really not going to like it - the vocals are mixed really up front. I don't care for the singer at all. The whole thing smacks of easy listening that you might hear in an old film, or maybe the Swingle Singers. The only redeeming feature is that that they (rather bizarrely) cover the Sab's Iron Man in the same style. Sorry but this is not for me at all, and I played it through twice. | ||||
| 273
Oct 08 2024 |
Blood Sugar Sex Magik | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 4 |
3.56 |
| This album is far too long to give it a reasonable number of plays. But I felt that the record would repay further lsitening, seems to be a diverse set of songs. | ||||
| 272
Oct 07 2024 |
Veckatimest | Grizzly Bear | 2 |
3.07 |
| I thought this pretty dull, not something I'd listen to in the future. Teddy Bear more than Grizzly Bear. | ||||
| 271
Oct 06 2024 |
Bookends | Simon & Garfunkel | 2 |
3.55 |
| I played this once. I was rather pleased it is a short album. Best track - Mrs Robinson. Otherwise very dull. | ||||
| 270
Oct 05 2024 |
Eagles | Eagles | 2 |
3.3 |
| Well, this debut album is strikingly well played. But I don't find it particularly engaging to listen to. It's rather too easy listening and smooth for my taste. Plus I don't like country rock. When I started buying albums, and before I formulated my own tastes, I had at least one Eagles album (Hotel California), but really it was nothing I could relate to in the mid to late 1970s. And I moved on from smooth easy listening country rock. | ||||
| 269
Oct 04 2024 |
Lazer Guided Melodies | Spiritualized | 4 |
2.93 |
| Pretty goos]d for a debut, but probably not the best Spiritualized album. | ||||
| 268
Oct 03 2024 |
Who Killed...... The Zutons? | The Zutons | 1 |
3.18 |
| Well...I'd never heard of The Zutons before, let alone played one of their albums. Was it going to be some sparkly SciFi inspired music (given the band name). I've played this twice now. And I have to say it was pretty disappointing. As the album started, I was thinking it all sounded a bit like a spirited attempt to replicate The White Stripes, but then it descended into a bunch of derivative dull tracks. I can't for the life of me understand why this album (largely composed of pub rock knees up type songs) could be considered a great album. | ||||
| 267
Oct 02 2024 |
Fromohio | fIREHOSE | 3 |
2.88 |
| OK, I was only dimly aware of fIREHOSE before this. Since this is a pleasingly short album, I've played this several times now. I'd characterise this as sitting on the folkier/garage end of the SST roster. It's OK, but for me it doesn't set the world on fire. | ||||
| 266
Oct 01 2024 |
good kid, m.A.A.d city | Kendrick Lamar | 2 |
3.6 |
| Another hip-hop record. Is there no end to these on this list? Nasty words, OK rhythms and the usual boring vocal delivery. | ||||
| 265
Sep 30 2024 |
Hail To the Thief | Radiohead | 4 |
3.44 |
| I have something of a love/hate relationship with Radiohead albums; I don't care too much for OK Computer, while I prefer Kid A and Amnesia. I find Thom Yorke's vocals a bit difficult at times, and I think that's the source of by reserved opinion of the band's work. I was interested to listen to this album, coming as it did after Kid A and Amnesia, and located as a rather political commentary. And I do rather like this one. | ||||
| 264
Sep 29 2024 |
Honky Tonk Masquerade | Joe Ely | 2 |
2.71 |
| There are two genres of popular music that I really don't care for, probably because of cultural background. The first of this is hip hop, and the second is country and western music. My heart sank a little when this album came up, particularly since I aim to listen to each album two or three times. Perhaps mercifully, this one is only 33 minutes long. Aside from the tooth-grating C&W flourishes such as yodels and pedal steel, the album is at its best when Joe Ely is rocking out. Unfortunately those moments are all too fleeting. I can't really rate this particularly highly, though I note from Wikipedia that Ely was quite broadminded when it comes to crossing genre boundaries. I think this and subsequent albums may have been more influential than I know - for example on The Clash's growing interest in Americana. | ||||
| 263
Sep 28 2024 |
If I Should Fall From Grace With God | The Pogues | 4 |
3.32 |
| Hang on just a minute, this is the second Pogues album in three days! Surely it's going to be more of the same sort of stuff as Rum, Sodomy and the Lash? Do the Pogues really merit two albums in this list? Well, lets give this a play... I think the production is a bit smoother than on Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. The songs seem strong, and I particularly like Fairytale of New York. The cover's rather good, better than the US version. On the whole I think I prefer this to Rum. | ||||
| 262
Sep 27 2024 |
Done By The Forces Of Nature | Jungle Brothers | 1 |
3.04 |
| More hip hop? Sigh...well let's give this a listen...well, it's pretty dull samey stuff throughout. Not my thing at all. | ||||
| 261
Sep 26 2024 |
Rum Sodomy & The Lash | The Pogues | 4 |
3.22 |
| This is a rollicking good album, great cover, cracking tunes and some pointed and some maudlin lyrics. I bet they were a fantastic live band. | ||||